Contents

Plot

Ash and the Pokémon are surrounded by flames. However, Buizel 's Water Gun cools down some flame and they escape. However, J fires and turns Riolu in a statue. J tells him she sparred Riolu from the flames, but Ash is not convinced. Salamance uses Hyper Beam, though they evade. Salamance uses Flamethrower to deal with them. J is satisfied to have eliminated the threat. The Pokémon of the forest go out. Kellyn spots some Blastoise and captures them. They use Rain Dance to douse the fire in the forest. Kellyn knows J put the fire, so they go to search for Riolu and Ash.

The men caught the Riolu and put it in the vehicle. Team Rocket got out of the hole, which is filled with water. Ash is safe, as Chimchar dug out a tunnel to escape. Suddenly, Ash hears something and sees the vehicles come in the air ship. Ash and Pikachu quickly go into the ship. The rain stopped, so Brock, Dawn and Kellyn run. The air ship passes near them, so they now know J has Riolu. J contacts the man who wants Riolu. J lowers it a bit, so the man is convinced the Riolu is real. Ash and Pikachu came into the room to rescue Riolu. J sends Drapion, who raises Ash. Ash kicks it and frees himself. However, they fall in a trap and fall down. They fall down out of the air ship, but fortunately, a Staraptor saves them, as Kellyn used to capture it.

The air ship disappears. Ash and Pikachu are transported to Brock and Dawn. Kellyn sets free Staraptor. He receives a call from Solana, who, along with Officer Jenny, failed to arrest the contractors, as they escaped. If they succeed, the men will leave no tracks. Ash wants Riolu to know where it is and yells. J senses something and looks to Riolu. Riolu's aura gives info to Ash, they are near some canyons. They run towards there, while Team Rocket would like to follow them to get revenge on J. Kellyn captured some Dodrio and they charge towards the location. Ash senses the aura is stronger, so they are closer. The contractors came and apologize for waiting. J's man gives them Riolu, but the heroes came in time.

Ash sends Staravia, who uses Quick Attack and knocks the Riolu's statue out of the contractor's hands. J has the money, so she and her men go back in the air ship. One of the contractors' men sends Golem, who uses Hyper Beam, hitting Ash. J's ship flies away, so the men go back in the truck to go away. However, Staravia's Quick Attack causes the tires to be cut. The men send more Pokémon, while the contractor his Fearow to get away. Solana and Officer Jenny came, so while they fight the men, Ash and Kellyn go to save Riolu. Golem and Rhyhorn go to use Sandstorm, but are stopped by Piplup's Bubblebeam. Jenny sends Growlithe and Brock his Croagunk and Dawn her other Pokémon.

Kellyn and Ash chase the man. The Dodrio jumps on Fearow and uses Fury Attack, causing the Fearow to fall. The man is stubborn and goes in a cave. The man sees there are many ways he can go, so sends Aggron, who uses Rock Smash to cut the way by causing the rocks to fall down. Kellyn captures a nearby Donphan and it rolls, pushing the rocks away. However, the Agrron caused all possible ways to be barred. Meanwhile, the heroes fight the men's Pokémon, but begin to lose. Solana captures a Trapinch, who uses Rock Tomb to surround the men and their Pokémon. Ash uses his aura to contact Riolu and senses in one of the ways. Donphan rolls and pushes the rocks away.

The man is surprised to see they figured where to go, but still does not want to give Riolu. Agrron uses Double Edge, but gets stopped by Donphan's Horn Attack. Aggron is pushed on the man, who drops the statue. Ash lowers the statue and Riolu is free. Aggron uses Hyper Beam, but collides with Riolu's Aura Sphere. With Pikachu's Volt Tackle, the Aggron and the man are defeated. The contractor's men are also arrested. Jenny thanks them for the assistance. J gets another contract and orders to go there. Team Rocket, in their balloon, try to stop her. The air ship becomes invisible, but this still destroys Team Rocket's balloon and they blast off.

Riolu is safe and the men are arrested. The man who raised Riolu expresses his gratitude. Ash gives Riolu the doll it lost. Ash receives a call from Riolu and knows it wants to thank him.

Trivia

Professor Oak's Pokémon lecture: Capture Styler

Due to Ash's sensitivity to Aura, which was first introduced in Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, he is able to sense Riolu from far distances, making the movie at least partially canon.

Solana has a different uniform than the one she had in her past appearances. The one she wears in this episode is based on Kate's from Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia.

For an unknown reason, Plusle is not seen with Solana.

This is the second dubbed TV episode to not only retain all of its Japanese background music, but also use no American-made music (unless one counts The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon as a dubbed TV episode).

Jessie makes the comment that Team Rocket should, "Climb every mountain. Ford every stream." This phrase is from The Sound of Music.

Music from Destiny Deoxys, Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea and Lucario and the Mystery of Mew is used as background music.

This episode marks one of the extremely rare instances that Ash ever intentionally hurts a Pokémon, as he kicks J's Drapion in the face in order to escape from its claws.

Errors

Dawn's Pachirisu used Discharge, despite the four Pokémon it was up against (Rhyhorn, Nidoking, Graveler and Golem) being part Ground-type, and therefore immune to Electric attacks. Same happened with Pikachu and Aggron.

Part of Ash's hair disappears in the closing scenes. This can be seen when Ash is talking to Riolu's Trainer.